More History Is in Danger of Being Removed

In the coming weeks, the New York City council will determine whether or not to remove statues of Washington, Columbus, and more.

Statue of George Washington in Union Square Park, Manhattan. The statue has stood for more than 167 years but is now in danger of being taken down. Source: Angel Chevrestt

Once you cede an inch to the political left, you’ll soon discover that you’ve lost a mile. Modern conservatism and its leaders have failed to effectively combat the left in this regard, and American society suffers in the process. Nowhere else does this unfortunate reality become more apparent than in the battle surrounding American history.

For decades, Confederate monuments and statues have been attacked, vandalized, and destroyed with little to no resistance from the right. Of course, the left wasn’t just going to stop at taking down Confederate and Southern history. Its ideological followers soon set their sights elsewhere.

The summer of 2020 demonstrated just how radical this faction was and how far they were willing to go to undermine and dismantle America’s past. Hundreds of statues were toppled, defaced, and subsequently removed, not only of Confederate leaders but also of American Founding Fathers and more recent individuals. Statues of Washington, Jefferson, Grant, Lincoln, Douglass, and Teddy Roosevelt were eliminated, along with countless others.

Since then, the routine destruction of American history has continued as the left maintains its hostile posture towards what it deems “inconvenient” and “offensive” history. And by no means is it going to stop. As the great Pat Buchanan wrote in December 2020, the attack on our nation’s past was “far from over.”

As usual, Buchanan was right. The latest example of the left’s desire to erase American historical culture and paint it in a negative light can be reflected in the New York City Council agenda on September 19. Amid an extraordinary illegal immigration crisis that is increasingly overwhelming the city’s infrastructure and treasury, the Democratic-led council has been fixated on an entirely different issue. Rather than address the city’s needs, the members of the council have seen fit to target New York’s historical statues for removal.

The council’s Cultural Affairs Committee recently held a hearing to discuss and contemplate a measure aimed at removing statues and other works of art on New York City property that “depict a person who owned enslaved persons or directly benefited economically from slavery, or who participated in systemic crimes against indigenous peoples or other crimes against humanity.” Furthermore, if a park or school is named after any one of these individuals, the council would require that a plaque explaining the misdeeds of the person be installed next to the school or park.

What Could Be Removed

Above all, the proposal will notably endanger George Washington, who has several statues of his likeness on city property. One such statue in Union Square, Manhattan, depicts Washington commencing his triumphant march on horseback through Manhattan in the aftermath of the British evacuation of New York City in 1783. A monument erected on July 4, 1856, to honor America’s Father and to commemorate the Revolutionary War effort will be dismantled if the council succeeds in its history-smashing endeavor.

Similar to Washington, there are still multiple statues of Christopher Columbus in the city. Out of all the works, the statue in Columbus Circle holds the most significance, both in its importance to the Italian-American community and the year in which it was built. The famed piece of art was constructed by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the New World. This too will be removed if the measure advances.

But by no means are Washington and Columbus the only individuals at risk of having their statues and monuments torn down. The list is far broader.

According to the language within the proposed measure, persons who engaged in “systemic crimes against indigenous peoples” and who committed “other crimes against humanity” are also in danger of having their history erased. This criteria will most likely include President Abraham Lincoln, General William Tecumseh Sherman, General Ulysses S. Grant, and General Philip Henry Sheridan because of their treatment of “indigenous peoples.”

Under threat is a bronze, larger-than-life statue of Abraham Lincoln that was dedicated on October 21, 1869. It is one of the oldest Lincoln statues. An equestrian, gold-colored statue of General Sherman that was dedicated in 1903 is also at stake. Additionally, an equestrian statue of General Grant in Brooklyn that was dedicated in 1896 is in danger mainly because he was a slaveholder.

Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch governor and early settler of New York, is also in danger of having his name scrubbed and his statue removed. Stuyvesant has a high school and a park named after him, along with a statue erected in his honor over eighty years ago.

If the left succeeds in passing this measure, these and other relics of our past will soon be gone.

As it stands, there is no firm opposition to the left’s deleterious agenda, which threatens the very fabric of our historical culture. But there is still a path out of this, no matter how bleak the situation may seem at the present moment. It is way overdue for conservatives, libertarians, and others on the right to form a broad and formidable coalition against the factions who desire the removal of historical statues and monuments. Undoubtedly, the only way this will end is if more people on the right put their foot down and say, “Enough.”